Information Technology (IT) systems, methods and computer program products, including, for example, computer networks, have grown increasingly commonplace, both in the business and home environment. These systems are generally able to communicate using protocols, such as the Internet Protocol (IP) over a shared infrastructure with registered addresses referred to as the Internet and/or the world wide web. The spread of these communicatively coupled systems provides a channel for communication of information to both businesses and consumers that was previously unknown. In addition to acting as a news distribution channel, the Internet is being used for sales and marketing of a wide range of consumer products and services. In addition, the Internet is increasingly being used for registration of such products with the manufacturer and/or distributor of the product, particularly for software products that may be distributed to the consumer electronically over the Internet itself.
Products are typically sold to consumers in packing including a universal product code (UPC) bar code label. These UPC labels are commonly used, for example, at retail checkout points to determine the price of the product. The UPC label is an identifier associated with a product type and/or model. For example, all of the cartons for a particular brand and model of a television from a manufacturer will generally be placed in packaging having the same UPC label.
Additional uses for the UPC label in connection with cooking devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,280 (“the '280 patent”). The '208 patent describes a microwave oven including a sensor to read a UPC bar code that identifies the food or food product being placed in the microwave oven. Based on the read UPC bar code, the microwave oven may activate the microwave cooking cycle based on a particular cooking program that is identified by the UPC bar code information.
One area of concern with consumer products is safety. If a manufacturer determines that products are defective, it may issue a recall for the affected products if the defect poses a safety risk to the consumer. One category of products where this is particularly common is with food products. The manufacturers typically identify the products affected by a batch number. A batch number may represent a particular day and/or shift of production of the product and/or may be associated with a particular batch of supplies used in producing the products. Notification of a recall is typically provided to the consumer by mass market communications (television and print news media) and/or by mailing of notification of the recall to consumers who have registered their purchased product by submitting identifying personal information to the manufacturer, for example, on a mailed product registration card or electronically over the Internet.
An alternative approach to notifying a consumer that a food product is defective is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,341 (“the '341 patent”). As described in the '341 patent, a food contamination detector is provided by a special substrate on a bar code label attached to the product that renders the bar code label unreadable if the product is contaminated. A substrate reactive with food contaminants is required to provide the change in color affecting the ability to read the bar code label and the substrate is placed in contact with food juices from the product.
It has also been proposed to use a bar code label in connection with a microwave oven to detect ingredients of a product placed in the microwave oven in addition to cooking time for the product. For example, ingredients to which the consumer is allergic or which the consumer wishes to avoid eating, such as meat, may be determined based on the bar code information.